I enjoyed the story. I still have a bit of a tough time with Harry's "chivalry" but the fact that he fully admits he's sort of a sexist but because he wants to treat a woman well and protect her helps me not want to punch him sometimes. But this book did have him feeling sorry for himself quite a bit. I feel like he did that in the last one, too, but it's been awhile.

I will probably read the next in the series at some point. I do like the characters and the story lines are dark and fun. ( )

Don't know why some people judge the first two books in the Dresden series so harsh. Book one and two were quite entertaining and I'll definitely continue with the series... and I, for one, like it when a man opens the door for me. ( )

2020 reread: I’ll stick with my original 4-star rating. I’m finding I’ve forgotten a lot about the start of the series. I definitely didn’t remember Harry’s ace in the hole at the end. At this point in my reread, I’m not madly in love with Murphy yet, and Harry’s “I’m dead this time for sure/there’s no way I’ll get out of it” claims are very repetitive. And he’s a little bit in leering mode, which I don’t know if I picked up on the first time through.

BUT!

I knew going into this reread that I wasn’t sold on this series until the third book, so I’m really looking forward to reading that one. ( )

Not bad. Graphic Novel version. ( )

Summary: Harry Dresden is up to his old tricks, cept this times were-wolves look to be on the scene and maybe something a little more sinister is moving around the edges still unseen.

Things I liked:

Good escalation of the risk and escalation of old relationships.

Things I thought could be improved:

Quite a bit of repetition of background from the first book. A lot of the time this was almost word for word from the first book which was noticiable and felt a little lazy.

Highlight: Probably the face off with the gang members at their club house when everything was on the line. ( )